Sub Texas Gets New Top Officer

November 27, 2003|By PETER DUJARDIN Daily Press

The Texas -- the second Virginia-class submarine, which is getting final assembly at Northrop Grumman Newport News -- got a new commanding officer last week to lead the 96 sailors assigned to the boat.

Cmdr. John J. Litherland relieved Cmdr. E.J. Ruff as the top-ranking officer on the Texas during a ceremony Friday at The Mariners' Museum in Newport News.

"Thanks for welcoming me into your midst," Litherland told his new sailors. "There's nothing I treasure more than to belong to one of these outstanding groups of young Americans who make up our Navy's submarine crews."

Starting up a new sub, with all the work involved, is considered among the tougher assignments in the Navy.

Although the Texas recently got the last weld on its pressure hull -- and is more than 80 percent finished -- it's still a long way from its commissioning. In the meantime, the boat's sailors -- many of whom live in a barracks building on Huntington Avenue and work in the shipyard -- need to devise new processes for everything from inventory control to weapons checks to personnel management.

About 120 sailors will be assigned to the sub by the time that it's commissioned in 2005.

Litherland previously commanded the Los Angeles-class sub Topeka.

He graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle with degrees in oceanography, physics and math.

He was commissioned in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in June 1983.

Ruff, a Virginia Tech graduate, will now take command of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, a Los Angeles-class sub.

Capt. Michael J. Connor, in charge of the Texas and other boats for the Navy's Submarine Squadron 8, spoke highly of the departing skipper.

"Under his command," Connor said of Ruff, "that crew has met every key event to support delivery of the ship in 2005."

Peter Dujardin can be reached at 247-4749 or by e-mail at pdujardin@dailypress.com